Claw Hammer live 1992

I was pretty shocked to see that this clip is 25 years old now. I can’t think of another band that I saw more often in the late 1980’s/early 1990’s than Claw Hammer. Just one of the best live bands at the time and one that played out a LOT. Unfortunately, there is not a lot of video out there though there is an early public access tv thing that is not yet on youtube. What I like about this clip is that it does capture their live power - as well as Al Hambra, Rob and Bob’s hair and Jon’s tucked shirt (thanks Whittaker!) looking like he was outta a 1972-3 J.C. Penney catalog. Man, did I proselytize about these guys to the extent that I even won over my hardcore Lazy Cowgirls contingent to going to see them at EVERY possible opportunity. Gotta hand it to Dave Laing and Dog Meat/Grown Up Wrong Records (and Eddie Flowers' write up in Forced Exposure) for really getting the ball rolling. Dog Meat of course was responsible for putting out the posthumous Imperial Dogs lp and then Grown Up Wrong put out the first 45s by both Claw Hammer ("Poor Robert") and Crawlspace ("Silent Invisible Conversation") - both bands I religiously followed at the time in LA. The Imperial Dogs lp was a MAJOR deal at the time to me and my friends. As I followed Australian rock pretty close in the era and it was funny that Grown Up Wrong put out the two best local bands of the time . . . . that we had to get on import!

Rodney in an Original Imperial Dogs Shirt

While it might not have the moneyed cachet of the Seditionaries collectables these days (think PUNK: Chaos to Couture at the Met ferchrissakes), and the fact that you probably can't find one outside of Don Waller and Fred Patterson's storage spaces, you know which shirt ya need. If I had one, I could send a kid to college so rare are these shirts. First in line for the rescreen!

Heavy Metal Thunder/(Back to the) Future Blues/The December 18, 1972 Showdown Between Clap and Sugar Boy

A little known secret about American proto-punk is that some of the greats morphed from "blues" bands led by omnivorous rock animals who embraced (at one time) the ballroom rock led by their British brethren. Or, at the very least, they dipped in the same wellspring originating in Chicago in the 1950's . An entirely different strain of British fiddle proto-punk (Cockney Rebel, Doctors of Madness etc) will be the subject of a future post and seemingly come from a mutant strain altogether. It was a given that these American folks loved the VU, Stooges, Doors, Nuggets-era garage bands (and actually played in them in real time), early rock n' roll/r'n'b and rockabilly etc, and of course the string of Stones 45s from 1964 onward. Cleveland had Laughner's Mr. Charlie (c.f. Laughner's lyrics to "Cinderella Backstreet" about playing them blues learned "from the Engish dudes"). In Boston, Matthew MacKenzie, Scott Baerenwald and Willie "Loco" Alexander's Bluesberry Jam mined much of the same inspiration that early Aerosmith took from (Jeff Beck Group, early Humble Pie, Yardbirds, the Who, Stones, etc). In Texas, certain of the pre-Nervebreakers had a serious "English" blues band going prior to adopting a slightly glam/Alice Cooper bent. Baltimore's great George Brigman as we know lived and breathed British blues killers and all around heavies the Groundhogs (as do we all). Add in some serious Faces worship (as acknowledged by Steve Jones and Killer Kane), and yer gettin' warmer. And now, Don Waller - god bless him and why not support the man and buy the Imperial Dog's dvd here or from Forced Exposure - has given the info we needed not only on cross town rivals, Clap, but laid out, as a public service of sorts, the covers the pre-Imperial Dogs Sugar Boy were playing. All I can say, is that I dig it. May not be everyone's cuppa, but I gotta say there are some favorites here, from Black Pearl's post-Barbarians, muscular MC5-styled, three guitar white soul to Peter Green-era Mac. As you can read on the Imperial Dogs page, the blues bent was soon ditched in favor of the darker, amphetamine-tinged, master race rock that we have come to know and love.









According to Don, the set included stuff from the Move, BOC, Black Pearl, the Climax Blues Band, Crazy Horse, the Faces and Eddie Cochran. What they had been playing prior to ditching their blues hound rhythm guitarist were covers of Z.Z. Top, Free, Fleetwood Mac, Savoy Brown, Willie Dixon, Earl King, Chuck Berry, Dylan, the Small Faces, Stones and Who. When are the tapes of that expanded Sugar Boy set(s) gonna be released?

The Great 1973 Sonics Revival/"The Closest Thing to Heavy Metal Until the Advent of the Zep and MC5"/Morock ("Moronic Rock")

Of the many places that could claim the mantle of pre-punk or proto-punk headquarters (for even a few minutes), let me introduce the San Fernando Valley circa 1972-1973, or more specifically Panorama City. That is the location of Mark Shipper’s BuckShot Records and the great compilation of the Sonics called “Explosives.” Then we have the Valley’s own Droogs practicing and releasing their first single in 1973 covering the Sonics’ “He’s Waitin'” on Plug-n-Socket, beating certain high profile “punk” folks to the pressing plant. I don't think there is any dispute these days to the Pacific Northwest's right to claim its place in the history of punk via the Sonics, Raiders, Wailers etc.

Now, do we even get into the ethics of reviewing one of your own releases in a trade publication? See RPM, June 1973, below. Naw, as RPM was itself a mouthpiece for a particular label and when the review is this over the top (and spot on 38 years later), and includes high praise from Metal Mike, we let it slide, no? Then, what do you do next? You have your friend Ken Barnes flog the thing in Fusion the next month, followed by a sweet Sculatti review of the second BOC record (along with a NICE photo of the Soft White Underbelly/Stalk-Forrest Group), wherein he talks about picking the Sonics of the 70’s. Great review, great record. This is how back in the day you created a real critical consensus! Don, the Imperial Dogs coulda been (are) the true Sonics of the 70’s! Decided not to crop Bangs’ review of Sun Ra’s “Atlantis” or Meltzer’s Spheeris reviews for your enjoyment. Oh yeah, a couple of pages of Sculatti/Saunders/Shipper’s 1974 “Brain Damage” as well. Mark Shipper phone home.

South Bay Surfers

I remember reading an interview with Iggy around the time Blah Blah Blah came out that said that he and Bowie were getting their heads cleared by surfing a lot. I guess that's why I like the fact that Iggy currently has that leathery tanned look of some surfer/beach comber in the South Bay who is riding his rusty (and probably stolen) beach cruiser by the bars near the Strand. Thanks to Waitakere Walk's old friend GR, we have been able to enjoy several South Pacific viewings of the Imperial Dogs dvd and it is a corker. Paul Therrio, guitarist extraordinaire of the Imperial Dogs, is a life long avid surfer. In my foggy vision of the 70's, beach denizens came in several camps - one genus looks like Paul and another looks like Sam Elliot in Lifeguard. This snap from Rodney's English Disco captures a ground zero moment of Iggy checking out Paul and the Dogs perform. It appears both had been hitting the beach. It is a proven fact that Iggy likes the beach (Miami is his home) and he did check out the Screamers command performance in Malibu a couple of years later at a beach house but I digress.